Costa Cruises, a leading Italian company offering cruise holidays in Italy and Europe, has once again demonstrated how much it cares about excellence in design by supporting, together with other major companies in the naval and nautical industry, the first international postgraduate Master’s course in “Ship and Yacht Architecture”, due to be launched in January 2009 at the IUAV University of Venice.

In association with the Delft University of Technology and the Brodarsky Institute of Zagreb, the Master’s course will be held in Italian and English and will include courses and exercises overseen by lectures and engineers, trips out to sea and visits to laboratories and shipyards. The purpose is to promote the development of new professional skills by making use of synergies between universities, professionals, shipyards and craftsmen, with particular attention being paid to environmental policies.

Its sponsorship of the IUAV University’s Master’s course is further confirmation of Costa Cruises’ commitment to support naval design and architecture.  Costa’s early focus on architectural and decorative aspects of the ships has certainly played a part in its success over the first 60 years of cruising history. The company has always seriously considered the stimuli and the proposals offered by the best in design and has been able to secure the collaboration of prestigious architects – from Guido Canali to Pierluigi Cerri and Joseph Farcus –  and talented and innovative artists, such as Lucio Del Pezzo, Omar Galliani, Emanuele Luzzati, Milo Manara, Carlo Mattioli, Susumu Shingu, Aldo Spoldi, Tullio Pericoli, Arnaldo Pomodoro, Emilio Tadini and  recently Fernando Botero.